


Every Time A Bell Rings

by hanbanana



Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Children, Christmas, Enjolras being a nosy boyfriend, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-06
Updated: 2014-01-06
Packaged: 2018-01-07 13:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1120164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hanbanana/pseuds/hanbanana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Grantaire apologizes for mysterious disappearances with take-out dinners, Enjolras is a nosy boyfriend, and there are children.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Every Time A Bell Rings

**Author's Note:**

  * For [playingcrazy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/playingcrazy/gifts).



Enjolras was a little surprised at how quiet the apartment was after he got home from class; usually Grantaire had music blasting while he worked on his art. As he made his way through their home, shedding layers as he went, he came to another realization- Grantaire wasn't just quiet today. He wasn't home.  
Normally this wouldn't be all that unusual, except that Grantaire hadn't had classes, and he had an assignment for his Art class due the next day, a painting. Art was one class that Grantaire actually made an effort at keeping up with the deadlines for. Looking down at the painting laying in the middle of the small room dubbed Grantaire's studio, Enjolras was fairly certain that it was just over half-finished. He frowned, typing out a quick text to Grantaire before pacing back into the living room and setting up his laptop on the couch. He had an essay for his Politics class that desperately needed his attention, so he set his mind to the unfairness of immigration laws, rather than worry about where Grantaire was.

Two hours and three-quarters of an essay later, the front door opened and a familiar figure slipped into the warmth of the apartment. Enjolras's head jerked up, and he raised his eyebrows at his boyfriend as he shook the snow from his dull green beanie, discarding his coat and soaking wet sneakers by the door.  
"Where have you been?"  
"I brought Thai."  
Grantaire evaded his question with a crooked smile, holding up a white plastic bag, straining with its burden. Enjolras heard his stomach whine in response and gave in temporarily, shutting his laptop and setting it on the old wooden coffee table, then stood and joined Grantaire in the adjoining kitchen. He helped his boyfriend unload the bags, setting the little cardboard boxes and plastic containers of food onto the small table. They never bothered with plates for meals like this- it had become a habit of theirs to just share and eat directly out of the boxes. Less dishes that way.

Once they were both sitting on the couch, boxes strategically arranged on the coffee table for easy access, Enjolras tried again. "I noticed your painting isn’t finished yet," he started, Grantaire's knee resting amiably on top of his own. "What was so important that you had to drag yourself away from it? It didn't look like you got much of it done today." His tone was light, almost teasing, but he was genuinely curious about where Grantaire had been all day.  
He was nosy, it was true. And besides, it had been three weeks of mysterious disappearances, Grantaire not arriving home until around seven each time, and always with dinner, as if to make up for his absence. In all that time, Enjolras hadn't gotten it out of him where he disappeared to during the afternoons, or who he spent all that time with. He tried not to think too much of it, but after the first week, a little voice had snuck into the back of his head and begun to taunt him. Maybe he's gotten tired of you. You hardly focus on anything besides class and the cause anymore. He could do better. Enjolras didn't believe the voice, not really, but it was giving him doubts, and that was enough.

Grantaire didn't reply for a few moments, before smiling and shaking his head. "Don't worry about it. Can you pass the rice?" Enjolras frowned a little, shifting to grab the carton from the corner of the coffee table closest to him, handing it to Grantaire while simultaneously sending him a questioning look. Grantaire avoided his eyes, turning back to the Christmas movie they had found on TV, It's a Wonderful Life.  
"Look, Daddy! Teacher says every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings!" said Zuzu, queuing a mixture of laughter and awes from surrounding friends and family in the black-and-white film.

Throughout the next movie, A Christmas Carol, the gap between them on the couch slowly lessened, until they were cuddled together under a heap of shared blankets, which were necessary because the landlord of their cheap little apartment never had the heat quite warm enough in the winter. At times like this, though, neither of them really minded.  
By the time the old movie was finished Grantaire was snoring quietly; head tucked against Enjolras’s neck, Enjolras half in his lap. Lacking the energy he knew it would take to get up, and not wanting to disturb the sleeping man tucked against him, Enjolras allowed his eyelids to drift shut. He just needed a short nap, that was all.

Enjolras woke to a low groaning in his ear, and butted his head against Grantaire’s lightly in return. It was too early to be awake- he didn’t bother opening his eyes, but he could tell that there wasn’t enough light yet. “Back’s stiff,” Grantaire grumbled, nuzzling against Enjolras’s shoulder and making altogether no move to actually do anything to fix the problem he was complaining about.  
“S’what you get for falling asleep on the couch.” Enjolras was hardly in the mind for conversations, but he knew Grantaire was right- it wasn’t good for them to sleep the whole night in this position. He cracked an eye open and tried to focus, just barely making out the glowing time on the clock on the stove. It was only 3:19 a.m. He let out a huff before slowly sitting up, shifting his legs off of Grantaire’s lap and tugging at his boyfriend’s arm, attempting to get him to move. “C’mon, let’s go to bed.”  
It took a few minutes of sleepy reasoning, but soon enough the two of them had shuffled into the bedroom and gotten into bed. Fallen was more like it, in Grantaire’s case. Still only half awake, Enjolras cuddled up against Grantaire once more, nestling into his side and allowing himself to drift back to sleep to the sound of Grantaire’s snoring.

The next day was a snow day. Enjolras was more than glad for it, since it gave him a day to catch up on some much needed sleep. He wasn’t one that was very good at keeping to the schedule that his body required, and at best, usually got a few hours a night. It also gave Grantaire a few more days to finish his project, meaning that they could justifiably sleep until noon. And they did.

It wasn’t until about twelve-thirty that Grantaire began to insist that they get up, their stomachs growling in agreement. With the dark-haired man tugging him out of bed, Enjolras finally complied, only to curl up on the couch in the living room and close his eyes again. He refused to get up until he smelled breakfast cooking- pancakes had a way of waking one up in the most delightful way.  
He trudged over to the small kitchen table and sat heavily in one of the wooden chairs, watching Grantaire cook through half-lidded eyes. “So, what do you want to do today?” Enjolras asked, resting his chin on one hand, elbow propped up on the table.  
“I’m good with whatever you want to do,” was Grantaire’s reply, voice still gravelly from recently waking up. “Though, I’ve got to go out later, around three.” Enjolras let out a little whine at that, frowning down at the table. Today was the first full day they’d have together, alone, in ages, and Grantaire’s secretive outing were still more important- Enjolras couldn’t help but feel a little hurt.

The pancakes were delicious. They almost made up for how little time Grantaire spent with him before heading off to his mysterious destination. Not really, though.

  
Enjolras decided to follow him. He knew it probably wasn't a particularly good decision, and that Grantaire would likely be angry with him if he found out, but Enjolras's curiousity had gotten the best of him, and he figured that it would be best to just deal with any problems when they arose.

After a few blocks, Enjolras was freezing. He could no longer feel his toes, and even in his winter boots his feet were wet; since the sidewalks hadn't been shoveled yet, most of the snow was nearly as deep as his boots were tall, which made walking all the more difficult. He had to credit Grantaire on his devotion to whatever it was he did on these trips, if he was willing to walk there in this weather when he could have stayed home in their much warmer apartment.  
Luckily it was fairly easy to get lost in a crowd in a big city like theirs, and even on days like this one, there were still places people had to be, still a bustle to the sidewalk. After turning yet another corner, he bumped into someone head on, nearly falling from the impact, but a hand grabbed his wrist and he was able to stabilize himself. He looked up from his feet and realized that maybe he hadn't done as good a job concealing himself as he had hoped.

"Really Enjolras? You couldn't just let this go, this one thing?" Enjolras frowned, could feel his ears and cheeks burning with his shame. Another gust of wind howled around them. "Well come on, then. I can't be disappointed with you if we've both frozen to death," Grantaire huffed, turning on his heels and leading Enjolras toward his final destination- the local youth centre. He filed into the warm building after the dark haired man. Feeling the snow beginning to melt in his hair, Enjolras wished he'd had the foresight to wear a hat.

"Grantaire!" Two young kids, a boy that looked about 7, and a girl, maybe 5, ran up to them and wrapped little arms around his mid-section simultaneously. A smile lit up Grantaire's face and he rubbed the tops of their heads affectionately, dishevelling their hair. Enjolras was a little surprised, but he couldn't say there weren't telltale signs- Grantaire loved kids. Of all of them, he was the best with Gavroche for sure- always had been. And Enjolras couldn't even count all the times Grantaire had paused in mid sketch to draw something for a kid that had approached him in curiousity.  
"So you have a job here? Why didn't you tell me?" Enjolras asked with a small smile, eyebrows furrowing as he looked away from the kids, who had ceased to hug and were now each holding one of Grantaire's hands, and up at his boyfriend.  
"Volunteer. And I don't know, I guess this is something I like being just mine- I haven't told any of the others either, if that makes you feel any better. Pretty sure Ep knows, but she seems to know just about everything about everyone’s comings and goings, don't ask me how." Grantaire gave a shrug, looking past Enjolras rather than at him, smile returning to his face just as Enjolras heard the click of heels as someone walked down the hallway behind him toward where they stood.  
“Grantaire, you made it! You didn’t have to come in, you know- the weather is terrible.” The middle-aged woman came to a stop at Enjolras’s left, beaming at Grantaire before turning to Enjolras and looking him up and down. “And you brought a friend too? Grantaire, you’re an angel. Most of the staff couldn’t make it in today because of the storm, but a lot of these kids had nowhere else to go today because of school closings. This will mean more to them than you know.” With her final sentence she addressed Enjolras, shaking his hand warmly as she continued to smile. “I’m Elise, dear. And you are?”  
“Enjolras. A pleasure to meet you, Elise,” he replied, returning her friendly smile with one of his own.  
“Can you two supervise the younger ones in the playroom? Rina’s the only one in there right now, and I’d like to give Ethan a hand planning some activities for thee older kids in the lounge.”  
“No problem, Elise,” Grantaire agreed without hesitation, giving her a nod. Elise took her leave moments later, but not before thanking them both once again for coming in, and letting them know how amazing they were for it.

“I’m Adana.” The little girl had trotted over to stand beside Enjolras, looking up at him curiously as she slipped her darker hand into his own. “Are you Grantaire’s boyfriend?” Enjolras chuckled in surprised, glancing up a Grantaire, who gave him a sheepish smile in response.  
“Yes, I’m his boyfriend. How did you-”  
“You’re really pretty,” Adana interjected, clearly not shy around strangers. “Why is your hair so long? Doesn’t your mommy make you cut it?”  
Enjolras grinned, absently reaching up to touch his tied-back blond curls. “Thank you- you’re very pretty too. I really like your dress.” Adana giggled and swung their joined hands. “My hair is long because I like it better this way. And since I don’t live with my mom anymore, there’s no one to make me cut it. Do you think it would look better short?”  
She shook her head as she studied him with wide brown eyes. “It wouldn’t look as pretty.”

A few minutes later, the four of them walked into the bright room dubbed the playroom, its sea foam green walls covered in so many drawings, paintings and pictures that the walls themselves were only visible near the ceiling, in spots that would only have been reachable with the aid of a ladder. A chorus echoed through the space as Grantaire came through the doorway, a small hoard of children running up to him, many toting toys or art work that they wanted to show him.  
“Look at my painting, ‘Aire!”  
“I got a new race car for my birthday, wanna see?”  
“Uppies! Uppies!”  
Grantaire laughed and picked up the third kid that had spoken, hoisting him up onto his shoulder. “How’s that, José?” The little boy, who looked about three or four, grabbed fistfuls of Grantaire’s hair and kicked his little feet excitedly. “Now let’s go see that race car of yours, June.” He followed the petite blonde girl further into the room, leaving Enjolras by the door with Adana and a few other kids who looked at him with curious eyes.  
Adana, still holding his hand, whispered to the others, as if it were some great secret, “Guess what. This is Grantaire’s boyfriend. His name is Enj’ra.”  
“But Grantaire’s a boy too- shouldn’t he have a girlfriend?” It was another girl that spoke, one a little older than Adana.  
“Nuh-uh, because he doesn’t want to. And Enj’ra is pretty as a girl anyway.” A couple kids nodded in agreement and Enjolras felt himself flush a little.  
“How about we, um, play with some toys or something? What’s fun in here?”

A few hours later, Enjolras was sitting on the ground while Adana and the other girl, Maria, played with his hair, now loose from the ponytail it had been in earlier.  
“I’m gonna braid it, okay?”  
“Do whatever you’d like, Maria,” Enjolras replied absently, smiling as Ben, who was six and very proud of it, showed him the best way to draw a bunny.

By the time six-thirty rolled around, most of the kids’ parents had come to collect them for dinner. Adana had left an hour earlier, and at this point, it was just a little girl named Kono, Ben, and an older boy, Mark, whom Enjolras was fairly certain was Ben’s brother. The six year old was sitting in Enjolras’s lap as he read him a story from the picture book he had picked out, about a little rabbit called Peter, bunnies apparently being Ben’s favourite animal. Enjolras was trying to use the most animated voices he could, which got a giggle out of the little boy.  
Grantaire and the other two had been playing with the puppet animals for the past ten minutes, and it didn’t seem like the kids would get bored of it any time soon. They all looked up at the sound of the door opening.  
“Ben, Mark- your mother’s here.” Rina told them with a smile. Mark tossed the puppet away and ran to get his coat from the rack by the door. Ben scampered over to Grantaire instead, cupping his hands around his mouth to whisper a secret in his ear. Grantaire’s smile grew as the little boy spoke, and he turned to look at Ben for a moment before whispering a reply in the small boy’s ear. Ben nodded solemnly, and then turned to wave at Enjolras with a little grin before joining his mother and brother by the door and leaving the playroom.  
“That’s just about everyone now, hm? Why don’t you two take your leave? You’ve already stayed later than any of the other volunteers. Kono and I are good here.” Rina told them cheerfully, once the door was closed again. She stooped to pick up Kono, holding the preschooler on her hip as the girl beamed up at her.  
“Thanks, Rina.” Grantaire agreed, standing up and brushing off the back of his pants, causing Enjolras to follow his lead and pick himself up from the carpeted floor as well.  
“No, thank you both- the kids always love it when you come by, R, and they seemed to take a liking to your friend as well. Look forward to seeing you both back.”

Rina and Kono waved at them from the playroom window as they began walking down the still unshovelled city streets.  
“I would say I’m sorry for following you today, but-”  
“But you’re not, right?”  
Grantaire cut him off with a smirk, glancing at him sideways. Enjolras smiled sheepishly and shook his head, looking up at the snow falling from the sky. “No, not really- how can I be? Those kids—I get why you volunteer so often- they’re great. I am sorry for the invasion of privacy, though. I should have trusted you and let it go.”  
Grantaire rolled his eyes, his reply teasing. “That wouldn’t be much like you, though, would it? How about we grab some food for dinner and head back to the apartment? It’s only going to get colder out here.”

Snuggled together on the couch with blankets wrapped around them, empty boxes of Chinese food on the coffee table, a familiar warmth filled Enjolras. “Grantaire?” The dark haired man hummed in response, dragging his gaze away from the animated Christmas movie on the television to look down at him. “What was it that Ben asked you before he left?” he asked lightly, already beginning to feel a little tired, which was fair after the day they’d had.  
Grantaire chuckled and hugged Enjolras to him a little tighter. “He wanted to know if you were a Christmas angel.” Enjolras laughed quietly at the notion, but felt his cheeks warm a little all the same.  
“And what did you tell him?”  
“That he would have to ask you himself, but that you would only come visit again if he was very good for his mum.” Enjolras leaned up to give him a kiss, smiling a little too widely.  
“You really have a heart of gold, ‘Aire. If anyone’s the angel, it’s you.”  
“Now that’s corny, even for you, Enjolras,” Grantaire laughed and shook his head, looking back at the brightly coloured screen. There was a long silence, broken only by the cartoon character talking jovially on the screen, before either of them spoke again.  
“You don’t volunteer there because of the convenient distance, do you?” Grantaire shook his head, pausing another moment before he spoke.  
“I spent the majority of my childhood there. My mum worked two jobs, and my dad was at the bar whenever he wasn’t working. The youth centre- they were like a second family to my sister and I, and now that I’ve got the time, I want to give back a little, in return for all they did for me.”

Animated angles danced across the television screen as they lead the shepherds to Bethlehem, their white wings fluffy and pure. Peals of laughter drifted through the window pane from the story below, where children spread out on the ground to make snow angels, despite the chill in the air. There were so many forms of angels, especially at this time of year, but as Enjolras rested his head on Grantaire’s shoulder, he was thankful for the angel next to him, shedding his light to make the world a little brighter, in his own way.

That Christmas, their first as a couple, was the best he could remember.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading this and a belated happy holidays to all c:
> 
> I wrote this for [Playingcrazy](http://playingcrazy.tumblr.com/) for a Secret Santa thing, hence the lack of sad and the holiday theme  
> Thanks a bunch to [Nat](http://evaporating-memories.tumblr.com/) for being an A++ beta   
> So yeah this is my first time posting a fic, so I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to post feedback
> 
> Also if you want you can check out my [Tumblr](http://theydiedtogether.tumblr.com)


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